Jamaican Child
The Story of Bighead
by
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"Bighead!" Shari called. The young toddler ran over to his mother and looked lovingly into her eyes. She grabbed his big head and kissed him on the forehead. "I'm going to leave you," she began. He looked at her tightly drawn face and smiled one of those joyous boyish smiles. She hugged him ever so close to her so he didn't see the tears welling up in the corner of her eyes. She smelled him around the collar of the large shirt he was wearing. He didn't wear pants because he was too old for cotton diapers, and it was expensive to keep outfitting him in pants that he outgrew very quickly. When she was satisfied, she slowly put him down. The boy went behind the tamarind tree and peeked out at his mother. He hid, then peeked. Hid, then peeked. The boy laughed, and screamed with joy, as he had the full attention of his mother. After a while Shari looked at the gate to see if it was time to leave. The boy, sensing the game was over, came out from behind the tree. "Mummy! Where you go?" the boy asked. "Far, far away" she replied, waving the back of her hand toward the mountains. "Far, far. Far, far away," the child sang in his childish singsong voice. He bent over and picked up the empty polish tin from the dirt where it had fallen when she hugged him. The child walked under the tamarind tree and started to play. He stuck a piece of stick into the red ants' nest and watched them crawl up. "Bye, Bighead," Shari said as she walked through the gate and out into the lane. "Far, far away," Bighead sang, shoving his backhand away from him in imitation of the gesture his mother had made earlier. He rubbed the spot on his hand where an ant bit him. "Poor thing," Shari said at the gate as she was joined by her sister Kate. "He doesn't know it will be a long time before I can send for him." Kate picked up Shari's grip from behind the tree where it lay hidden. If Bighead saw his mother leave with a grip he would cry and scream uncontrollably. It had happened before. One day Bighead cried and screamed when Shari left with Mr. Harris without saying good-bye to him. Mrs. Harris found him exhausted on the tombs next to the kitchen. Shari felt like she was abandoning him, although she was leaving for the city hoping to make a better life for the whole family.
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About the Book
Jamaican Child
Bighead is born to an unwed schoolgirl and fathered by a man thought to be unworthy of his mother's attention. His mother leaves him in the countryside to make a life for herself in the city and Bighead is left in the care of his maternal grandmother. The story follows Bighead's exploits in the country and in the city when he eventually goes to join his mother and her new family. When she moves to New York he seeks to follow her there also.
Jamaican Child accurately and colorfully describes life in Jamaica in the pre and post 1960's and introduces readers unfamiliar with the West Indian literary genre to its unique storytelling style. It also illustrates the value of the extended family and confronts the issue of the stepfamily and the difficult choices faced by women the world over, both then and now. The book comes to an exciting climax laced with love, betrayal, and revenge.
"Jamaican Child depicts the raw unadulterated truth of peasant life in rural Jamaica and to a less extent, the contrast of lifestyles between rural and city folks. Colorful and descriptive, the language is authentic and relates to the roots from which the social evolution continues. Because of the reality of the events as they relate to ordinary life, every chapter of the book stirs the emotion and urges the reader to keep reading. The author, with great skill, reflects the social conditions of the life of the times in the Jamaican village. Read Jamaican Child and you will say to Dr. Bonnick, I anxiously await the sequel." Hon. Sir Howard Cooke, Governor General of Jamaica
"Jamaican Child is a book about Jamaica by a Jamaican who has etched in his memory a rich childhood that everyone should be pleased to share in. (Everyone, Jamaicans and non-Jamaicans alike). It is a book about childhood but there is nothing childish about it. I enjoyed it immensely. It brought laughter, tears, and flooded me with so many memories, I felt as if I was transported back to those carefree days when growing up in the country was so innocent, fun-filled, and interesting. Jamaican Child will undoubtedly be a bestseller." Virginia Turner, Editor, New York Jamaica Weekly Gleaner (1995)
About the Author
Dr. B. Aristotle Bonnick was born in rural Jamaica, West Indies. At Excelsior High School under the tutelage of Mrs. Carmen Sanguinetti, he was exposed to the world of English Literature. He migrated to the United State of America in 1976 and completed his high school education at George W. Wingate High School in Brooklyn. College days were spent at the State University of New York at Albany where he received his Bachelor of Science Cum Laude, with a degree in Chemistry. It was there that he came under the positive influence of Dr. Jerome Thornton, and the late Dr. Nathan Wright, as well as the entire department of African and Afro-American Studies. His appreciation for Literature and creativity showed up in many of his papers. His graduate studies included the Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the University of Maryland at Baltimore. Postgraduate Studies included a General Practice Residency at the Long Island Jewish-Queens Hospital program, and a Fellowship in the Academy of General Dentistry. Dr. Bonnick is a frequent public speaker at schools and institutions. He also participates in community affairs and is active in Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., and the Organization for International Development. His volunteer work has taken him to the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica. In Jamaican Child, Dr. Bonnick writes of youthful tribulation and a young man's struggle to deal with issues of young love, sexuality, family secrets, and the search for identity and belonging in a story set in the Caribbean. The protagonist, Bighead, confronts the hypocrisies of expected behaviors in an environment not quite ready for change. He deals with his challenges using a success formula based on trial and error as well as being influenced by strong role models of both sexes. Bighead is a universal character, and the lessons he learns are the lessons for us all.